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If you followed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, you know that he talked tough on trade—especially when it came to countries he believed were giving the United States a raw deal. He pledged to either kill or renegotiate existing trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He saved some of his harshest words for China. At one point during the campaign, candidate Trump declared that “we already have a trade war” with China and vowed to slap tariffs on Chinese products and labeled the Asian giant as a currency manipulator.
It was his blunt, populist appeal that attracted many “Rust Belt” and rural voters and helped propel him to the presidency.
So, it really comes as no surprise that, a little over one year after his election, he announced that about $3 billion in steel and aluminum tariffs would be put in place to protect national security. Although several countries would be impacted, the target was clearly China—the largest global producer of steel and aluminum. Shortly after that announcement, China returned fire by imposing similar measures on $3 billion worth of U.S. pork, fruit, wine, nuts and other items.
In the latest salvo of trade actions between the U.S. and Chinese governments, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of U.S. goods, including soybeans, aircraft and automobiles. The Commerce Ministry said the tariff would be imposed on 106 items of products under 14 categories—but the date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes tariffs on Chinese products.
And last week, the U.S. Trade Representative published a list of 1,300 Chinese exports, worth about $50 billion, that could be hit with a 25 percent tariff to punish the Asian giant for stealing U.S. trade secrets, intellectual property and innovation. Shortly afterward, President Trump threatened another $100 billion in tariffs to retaliate against the retaliation.
But it’s still not a trade war yet and there’s time to disarm and step back, say U.S. and Chinese officials.
“No, it is not (a trade war) and our objective is still not to be in a trade war with them, but let me be perfectly clear, President Trump has been from day one very clear on we are going to defend free and fair trade,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Friday on CNBC. “We’ve been working with them over the last year and on the one hand, we’re willing to continue negotiations. On the other hand, the president is absolutely prepared to defend our interests.”
Nonetheless, all the saber rattling is generating market uncertainty and growing concerns that farmers will bear the brunt of what could become a long-drawn out trade war.
Everything from pork to apples could take a hit, but soybean farmers are one of the most vulnerable to Chinese retaliation because they depend on that market to buy about $14 billion worth of the crop every year. Purdue University researchers, at the behest of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, took a look at some possible outcomes if China retaliated against new U.S. tariffs by hitting its soybean exports.
Under the best-case scenario—a 10 percent tariff—U.S. exports to China would fall by a third, causing overall U.S. soybean production to drop by 8 percent. In the event of a 30 percent tariff, the researchers say U.S. exports to China would fall by 71 percent and total U.S. soybean production would decline by 17 percent.
“It’s not nice when they hit the farmers specifically because they think that hits me,” Trump said April 9 about the various Chinese tariffs aimed at U.S. pork, soybeans, corn, sorghum, cotton, beef, oranges, plums and a long list of agricultural commodities. “Our farmers are great patriots. They understand that they’re doing this for the country and we’ll make it up to them.”
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been trying to calm jittery nerves in farm country, telling folks that the president has instructed him to come up with plans to protect farmers, including using various USDA options to compensate farmers for any potential losses.
“He’s authorized and commanded us to take care of our producers,” Perdue said.
Perdue has not yet provided any details, but sources tell Agri-Pulse that the question of how to pay for the aid has been answered: Let China pay for it.
A relatively obscure law known as Section 32 allows the USDA take money from customs duties and use it for a wide variety of things like disaster payments and purchasing surplus commodities and donating them to schools or other institutions.
Now that the Trump administration is levying new tariffs on steel and aluminum and planning to impose up to $150 billion more on China as punishment for intellectual property theft, those government coffers could swell.
For years, there had been a restriction on USDA from using Section 32 funds for emergency aid as well as a hard cap on how much of those funds can be used. That ended when Congress passed the omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2018. The restrictions were removed on Section 32, so long as USDA secretary “provides written notification of the expenditures to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress at least two weeks in advance.”
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That’s not the only source of funds the USDA can draw on. It can also go to the Commodity Credit Corporation, an institution used by the department to borrow money from the Treasury Department, allowing USDA to “support the prices of agricultural commodities (other than tobacco) through loans, purchases, payments, and other operations.”
But consider the change in dynamics if this would happen: U.S. farmers and ranchers who moved sharply away from government intervention in their farming and selling decisions in the 1990s could once again be heavily reliant on some type of government payment to stay afloat.
Of course, many farmers and ranchers hope that cooler heads will prevail and that this global “war of words” will result in more robust trade negotiations and ultimately, better trading opportunities. But in the meantime, there is plenty of anxiety to go around.
Although it’s not a trade war yet, Trump’s tariffs are a real and dangerous threat to the ag sector, says North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.
“China must be held accountable for its record of trade abuses and intellectual property theft, but the administration’s drastic trade policies would instead come back to hit American farmers and ranchers where it hurts,” she said. “Tariffs on critical exports like soybeans would cripple North Dakota’s ability to sell our products, and we’d most likely face an impending farm crisis.”
Editor’s note: Agri-Pulse Editor Sara Wyant can be reached at www.agri-pulse.com.


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So what of HTC and other companies? Well, one need only look at the quotes coming out of their top people to get an idea of just how strong-armed they were by Google, all using strangely similar syntax and word choices to emphasize that no, it’s actually a good thing that Google are purchasing a company that isn’t theirs.
Motorola devices could potentially skyrocket in terms of sales when their newer models are released, given that this is now the equivalent of iOS being made for all devices, with Apple making ones with a company they bought too. Imagine anyone trying to compete with the iOS integration of the iPhone – difficult, surely.
Only time will tell us whether or not the Android market will shift in response to this, but it’s likely that unless LG, Sony Ericsson (who just released the big-play Xperia Play), HTC and other handset manufacturers pull out four aces over the next few months, they could see a loss in user numbers. But then again, if Google have chosen to buy a manufacturer rather than continue with their own handset line, it could be a sign that Motorola may find themselves developing under a stern gaze in the near future.

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Accenture has reported a strong growth in the business process outsourcing (BPO) market amid a weak IT spending environment.
While consulting sales at the management consulting firm dipped 10% for the financial year that ended 31 August, BPO revenue doubled to $1.44bn (£855m).
Accenture first entered the BPO market in 1991, when it took over discrete accounting operations for British Petroleum and Northwest Airlines.
The company now has eight BPO divisions, including finance, human resources and business services for utilities - and it is continuing to branch out.
Accenture recently began providing life insurance policy management services for a customer in France and is now looking to expand those services to insurers in Europe, the US and other parts of the world, said Joel Friedman, chief operating officer for Accenture's BPO business.
BPO has continued to grow during the economic downturn and is expected to expand from an $860bn (£511bn) business to one worth $1.2trillion in 2006, according to market research firm IDC.
Some of Accenture's BPO customers include AT&T, ConocoPhillips and the US Department of Defense.
Thomas Hoffman writes for Computerworld


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WILLIAMS-SONOMA, the company that has equipped upscale kitchens for decades, is about to expand into the rest of the home with its first line of furniture and accessories. The brand extension will potentially reorder a landscape now dominated by traditional retailers like Room & Board and by tastemakers like Martha Stewart for Bernhardt and Ralph Lauren Home.
The look is "aspirational," said Dave DeMattei, president of emerging brands at Williams-Sonoma, using an industry term for a product that helps a consumer trade up without necessarily spending top dollar. Call it the furniture equivalent of truffle oil on a granite counter or a wasabi-green KitchenAid mixer.
Williams-Sonoma, a $3.1 billion company, also owns West Elm and Pottery Barn. Its new home collection, which will be more expensive and include options more typical of custom furniture, will be sold in an 80-page catalog, with plans for a Web site next. Stores are scheduled to open starting in fall 2005.
The collection's down-plumped sofas start at $2,200; at Ralph Lauren Home, sofas similar in style start at $3,750.
"Casual elegance is what we do well," Mr. DeMattei said. If many of the new designs look familiar, that is no coincidence. Steven Brady, who was senior vice president for home design at Ralph Lauren Home from 2001 to 2003, now holds the same position at Williams-Sonoma Home.
Alan Rifkin, a senior vice president of Lehman Brothers who follows the retail markets, describes the target customer as part of a large and growing market of households with incomes above $60,000 and a yen for decorating. "A disproportionate number of people are spending money on their homes," he said. "Homes are larger, and more people own second homes."
Mark McMenamin, a senior editor at InFurniture, a trade magazine, said: "So many retailers have mimicked Pottery Barn and gone down-market in a sense. Now Williams-Sonoma is stepping up to grab the upper-end demographic." He added: "It represents a new competition for independent furniture retailers."
Mr. Brady describes the look as "classicism that's not trendy."
"People want things that they feel comfortable with," he said. "My inspiration is the flea markets in Paris, Florence, London and Brussels, as well as antique dealers in High Point, N.C.," he said.
While tasteful — unlike some flea-market finds, which can be downright funky — the new pieces are almost impossible to identify with any period or country. The decorative result is a rather bland mélange of styles, difficult to identify as coming from any single tradition beyond the almost universal midprice lines of companies like Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware and Room & Board.
Last year Americans spent about $175 billion on home furnishings, Mr. Rifkin said, with spending expected to rise about 4.5 percent this year. More that 67 percent of Americans live in a house rather than an apartment, a record level, and the National Association of Realtors predicts that number will rise in the next decade.
Williams-Sonoma's furniture will be made in the United States and Europe, and upholstered furniture will be delivered to customers, the company said, within 45 days. What follows is a sampling of pieces from Williams-Sonoma Home with furnishings from some of its competitors that are in the similar style.


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Photo Courtesy of Aston MartinFamed British automaker Aston Martin will celebrate its hundredth anniversary in 2013 with a series of exclusive events and commemorations around the world. In addition to its impressive motoring heritage, the centenary festivities will also celebrate the marque’s longstanding association with the James Bond movies, culminating in the latest, Skyfall, in which Daniel Craig as 007 drives a classic Aston Martin DB5.
The main event will be a week-long festival in July celebrating all things Aston Martin in London and at the marque’s legendary Gaydon, UK headquarters, where the oldest surviving Aston Martin, built in 1921, will take center stage. The week will culminate in a “birthday party” for the brand in central London featuring the world’s largest gathering of Aston Martins – 1,000 cars in all, from the earliest models to the recent Vanquish, the “ultimate GT”, and the impressive new DB9.
The Centenary Week will include open house activities at Aston Martin’s headquarters, and an exclusive Centenary Concours event will also take place that week in partnership with the Aston Martin Heritage Trust and the Aston Martin Owners Club, featuring the 100 most iconic Aston Martins ever built. Additionally, a series of celebratory centenary drives will be held as well, including a James Bond-themed route around England and Wales stopping at a number of iconic Bond film locations - a drive through the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and a rally through six European countries in six days. In the U.S. Aston Martin will stage a centenary drive ending with a weekend at the legendary Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August.


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The final episodes of American reality TV show ‘The Bachelor’ have been filmed in the Algarve and will start being aired on ABC in March.
According to the Algarve tourism association (ATA), around 11 million American viewers will learn more about the Algarve and the “natural beauty of its landscapes, like Cape St Vincent and the town of Tavira”.
“Given the audience and the success of ‘The Bachelor’, we believe that this will be an excellent way to promote the Algarve as an appealing destination and an alternative to the European destinations that are traditionally sought after by American holidaymakers, particularly those who value luxury tourism based on authentic experiences,” said João Fernandes, president of ATA.
Now in its 23rd season, ‘The Bachelor’ is a reality-show that gives a single man “the opportunity to find love” by choosing one of many contestants. The show has been on the air for 15 years and is watched by an average of 11 million per episode.
The Algarve’s tourism entities have been focusing more and more on promoting the region in the US. In 2018, the Algarve welcomed 78,000 American holidaymakers, a 25.3% increase compared to the year before.


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- The cost of clothing, groceries, furniture and other items is going up in the coming year.
- Here’s what you can do about high prices.
One thing’s for sure: 2022 is going to pay your price.
Consumer goods prices are rising almost across the board, amid inflation and ongoing supply chain issues.
“I don’t think there’s any way to escape,” said Julie Ramhold, a consumer analyst at DealNews.com.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t shop smartly for what you need and want.
Here’s a list of some of the key items that will cost more in the coming year, and what you can do about it now.
For some, buying a home has been one of the biggest challenges of the pandemic, even as mortgage rates plunged to a record low. Unfortunately, 2022 could be another year of new highs as home prices across all cities are rising two to three times faster than a year ago, according to Selma Hepp, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic. “The expected increase in mortgage rates next year will present challenges ahead,” she said.
Pro Type: Higher rates can help drive down demand for homes, at least slightly, resulting in less dramatic home price increases and less bidding wars, ultimately making it easier for some home buyers to reach the door. And with rent prices rising, this would still be a good time to go.
Going to the grocery store will start eating on your budget very quickly. It’s not just staples like eggs, meat and milk that are getting more expensive; Coca-Cola and PepsiCo also announced price increases due to greater supply-chain and labor problems. Even Oreo cookies, Ritz Crackers and Sour Patch Kids will cost more in 2022, Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Putt recently told CNBC — with a 7% price increase at the start of the year.
Pro Type: It would be difficult to avoid getting groceries. Watch for weekly sales and stock up when you can, Ramhold advised. And while clipping coupons may be out of date, many stores have digital deals or membership discounts that will save you money. A credit card with grocery rewards can also help with your weekly spending.
Americans are finally ready to say goodbye to their sweatpants but it’s not the best time to shop. Even though clothing sales are expected to fully recover this year, with many shoppers looking to refresh their pandemic-era wardrobes, supply chain pressure will drive Retail prices increased by an average of 3.2 percent, according to a report on the business of fashion by McKinsey—and 15% of fashion executives expect prices to increase by 10% or more in 2022.
4. Heating Cost
The heating bill can put you in a cold sweat during this season. According to the US Energy Information Administration's Winter Fuels Outlook 2021 report, nearly half of homes with natural gas are projected to spend 30% more than they did last winter in summer. According to the report, propane users will spend 54% more, while heating oil users could see a 43% increase in bills and power users are expected to spend another 6%.
Pro Type: Consider a home energy audit to locate and fix potential leaks and find areas for improvement, such as sealing drafty windows, to begin with. In some states, utility companies may also offer the service for free.
After a massive 58.1% jump in petrol prices in the past one year, it is hard to imagine paying even more at the pump. And yet, in some states, including Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, gas prices are likely to rise even more "very soon," partly due to increased wholesale prices, according to GasBuddy.com,
Pro Type: Depending on where you live, prices can fluctuate greatly between gas stations. Even though the price per gallon doesn't make much difference, it can add up to hundreds of dollars a year.
6. Eating out
Restaurants have been under pressure since the start of the pandemic and the ongoing staffing challenges are not going away anytime soon. As a result, most had to raise wages to attract workers to pay more for food, and this meant that menu prices would rise as well.
Pro Type: Look for weekly specials or food deals, such as two-for-one burger nights. Sometimes getting more for your money is a good way to add value even at a higher price.
More from Personal Finance:
More Americans Took Out Holiday Debt This Season
How to get back on track after blowing your budget
Do you think you have a spending problem?
New car prices are at all-time highs, while used car and truck prices, which used to be a good way to get a deal, are driving inflation, a 31.4% year-on-year increase, making it a It has become a particularly challenging time. To shop for an automobile.
Pro Type: You may not be able to lower the price, but dealers are paying more for a used auto, which means you can get more at a trade-in or lower-than-market price in a lease buyout.
8. Computers and Electronics
Computers, TVs and video game consoles have all been hit hard by ongoing chip shortages and that means very little inventory, even if you're willing to pay a premium – which is a lot of people because video game consoles are. Buying has become basically impossible during the pandemic-fueled boom for gaming.
Pro Type: Some of the year's best sales are happening around President's Day and Super Bowl Sunday when retailers mark down last year's models to make room for this year's offerings. Otherwise, score while you're in the stock, Ramhold said. These prices are not likely to return even when supply eventually catches up with demand.
The at-home shelter sent most people into a renovation frenzy, but even small updates won't be cheap. Furniture prices may increase by more than 10% in the coming year due to higher container freight rates, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Not to mention the cost of building supplies for a more major makeover.
Pro Type: A good degreaser and a fresh coat of paint can provide a much-needed boost until some shipping delays and supply-side problems subside on those bulkier items.
10. Medical Care
Paying for health care was a problem long before the pandemic. Now health costs have increased by 8.4% since 2020, according to a medical index published by the consulting firm Milliman, put the cost of care out of reach for many Americans.
Pro Type: Do not delay in going to the doctor. One way to help with costs is to use tax-advantaged accounts for medical expenses -- specifically, health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts. To be able to use an HSA, you need to be enrolled in a high-deductible health plan, or HDHP. The contribution then grows on a tax-free basis and you can invest that money to keep pace with or beat healthcare inflation.


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Apple supplier SK Hynix announced earlier today that it will acquire Intel's NAND memory and storage business for US$9 billion. The transaction includes Intel's NAND SSD business, NAND component and wafer business, and Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China.
Over the past decade, SK Hynix has been a key Apple supplier, providing the U.S. powerhouse with mobile memory semiconductors including DRAM and NAND flash chips. SK's memory semiconductors are a key component of iPhones.
SK Hynix said the deal is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of its NAND flash solutions and growing the memory ecosystem.
SK Hynix and Intel will endeavor to obtain required governmental approvals expected in late 2021. Following receipt of these approvals, SK Hynix will acquire from Intel the NAND SSD business (including NAND SSD-associated IP and employees), as well as the Dalian facility, with the first payment of US$7 billion.
As the global leader in the semiconductor industry, Intel possesses industry-leading NAND SSD technology and quadruple level cell (QLC) NAND flash products. For the first six months ended June 27, 2020, the NAND businesses represented approximately US$2.8 billion of the revenue for Intel`s Non-volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG) and contributed approximately US $600 million to NSG operating income.
Bob Swan, Intel CEO: "I am proud of the NAND memory business we have built and believe this combination with SK Hynix will grow the memory ecosystem for the benefit of customers, partners and employees. For Intel, this transaction will allow us to further prioritize our investments in differentiated technology where we can play a bigger role in the success of our customers and deliver attractive returns to our stockholders."
CNN added to this story by noting that "SK Hynix will acquire Intel's NAND memory chip business, including associated manufacturing and design patents, as well as the US firm's factory in Dalian, China, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday. Intel's NAND flash memory products are used in devices such as smartphones, tablets and hard drives. The US company will keep Optane, its advanced memory chip technology business."
SK Hynix is listed on Apple's Supply Chain list and listed on Apple's 2020 "Supplier Clean Energy" list. A report from Korea Times back in July was titled "SK hynix, Apple to implement eco-friendly production line-up."


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Due to the coronavirus outbreak, we are now working from home. If you need to contact us urgently please email: firstname.lastname@example.org
Phoenix Natural Gas has today announced its support of the Kids Gardening Club at Hillmount. The free to attend club is hosted at Hillmount garden lifestyle centres in Ards, Bangor and Belfast on… Full story
A Bradford Garden Centre has announced the second masterclass with TV and radio gardening expert and award winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show designer, Matthew Wilson.
Tong Garden Centre is… Full story
Sue Benson, Managing Director at The Market Creative, offers five tips on improving the customer experience by improving garden centre marketing.
1. Share… Full story
The GIMA Day Conference took place on 12th April at Ettington Chase Hotel, Stratford-Upon-Avon, with over 65… Full story
Leading UK lawn seed supplier Johnsons Lawn Seed is continuing to campaign for quality within the consumer market and looking to address the persistent problem of ‘shrinkflation’, i.e. packets… Full story
OSMOUK Post Fix is a strong, easy-to-use, and fast-setting solution that allows users to fix a post in a matter of minutes.
Whether you are installing garden posts or sports poles, OSMOUK… Full story
Produced by FIRA to give a greater understanding of fire safety issues that may concern those buying or selling outdoor furniture, the LOFA Outdoor Furniture Flammability Guide provides a basic… Full story
Alec White, nurseryman and peony expert of Primrose Hall Peonies shares his predictions for the peonies that will be seen at the Royal Wedding in May and… Full story
ONE OF the UK’s leading nurseries, Wyevale Nurseries, has seen a growth in sales of its range of specimen shrubs and has increased its own production by 300% in the past three years.
Woodlodge, the UK’s leading supplier of garden pots, horticulture products and garden ware, is leading the way this summer by setting the standard in customer support, product merchandising and… Full story
Now spring has officially sprung so can the Quit That Itch campaign, as we can finally say hello to warmer weather, lighter evenings and beautiful flowers in bloom. However this season also brings… Full story
A lot of garden centres are using their webshop as a showroom for their physical store. The customer journey starts online but ends offline in a brick and mortar store. But how do you make sure… Full story


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A new Chattanooga company is offering internet-based “plug and play” phone systems for small businesses. ring-u, which launched in late 2017, offers low-cost, no-contract voice over internet protocol (VOIP) phone service for two to 20 lines and up to 50 extensions. Regional test customers began using ring-u in 2017, and the company now has customers in 26 states.
Service is built around the Hello Hub, a small computer designed by founder Phil Sieg and cofounder Mike Harrison that makes configuring phones and phone service a “do-it-yourself” project.
Customers buy the Hello Hub—currently available on Amazon or the company’s web site—then purchase phone service from ring-u. Customers can also buy phones from ring-u or any other vendor, or use existing phones.
Customers pay monthly fees, and no contract is required. Pricing is based on phone lines, not number of employees or extensions and is significantly lower than most phone systems, according to Sieg.
“We don't do contracts,” said Mr. Sieg. “We believe contracts are used by companies that are charging you too much and providing you with too little. Customer retention should be a function of keeping you happy with both price and service.”
Anyone can set up the ring-u phone system right out of the box in just a few minutes, and there’s no need for set up on individual phones.
“Commercial phone system installations typically require a technician, but we designed ring-u to be a simple, do-it-yourself product,” said Mr. Harrison. “Initial setup takes about 15 minutes and is comparable to configuring an office printer. Once initial setup is complete, the system reaches out and configures individual phones.”
As they each built multiple successful tech companies, Mr. Sieg and Mr. Harrison became well acquainted with the high cost and complexity of phone systems. When Sieg was growing his first business, the quote he received for a phone system was so high that he built one himself because he couldn’t afford to buy one.
“We joke that we hate phone companies so much that we built one,” said Mr. Sieg. “That’s pretty close to the truth.
“Our phone system is about the price of an office laser printer, and other systems are about the price of a car,” said Mr. Harrison.
For more information, visit ring-u.com.


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BMW could adopt a more digital sales approach after the successful completion of a pilot project by its subsidiary in South Africa. The strategy would mean customers deal directly with BMW when it comes to pricing, purchasing and invoicing.
The recent announcement of Peter van Binsbergen as the incoming boss at BMW SA is likely to mean plans to expand the model to other markets is imminent. Van Binsbergen has already been instrumental in expanding other BMW strategies worldwide, including the Five Star customer rating and Product Genius concepts created by BMW UK.
“Our customers today expect a seamless premium brand experience across all channels, online and offline,” a spokesperson for BMW AG told us. “The best customer experience and thus further digitisation of our sales channels have been the focus of our sales development for many years.”
Outgoing BMW SA managing director and former boss of BMW UK, Tim Abbott, who managed the pilot, told Autocar that now is the perfect time to expand the sales model as the way we buy cars has changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. A spokesperson for BMW UK told Autocar that there are no current plans to make any fundamental changes to its sales model, however.
Under the strategy, BMW is directly responsible for the sale, including taking the order for a new vehicle, generating the invoice and receiving the payment. It means the days of haggling over the price at a dealership will be numbered, with BMW setting the price you pay, which will be the same regardless of which dealership a customer uses or whether they buy directly on-line.
“Dealers still have to be what I call product specialists, because people still want to know how Connected Drive works or what's the difference between four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive,” says Abbott. “So what we've seen is that it's more like an Apple store concept where they're more consultants, guiding the customer to a point.”


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The S&P 500 rose 1% to 1,666.08 in afternoon trading Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.07% to 15,466.33, while the Nasdaq was up 1.17% to 3,499.66.
The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond rose 5.12% to 2.11%.
The price of gold fell 0.10% to $1,385.20 per ounce.
Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. was up about 2% to $18.40, for a market value of $2.8 billion. Ingram, which distributes technology products, computers and consumer electronics, said it will now carry and sell Samsung smartphone and tablet accessories in the U.S.
Shares of Newport Beach patent licensor Acacia Research Corp. rose about 5% to $24.75, for a market value of $1.22 billion. Acacia said its subsidiary, Business Process Modeling Solutions LLC, reached a license agreement with International Business Machines Corp.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. rose about 3% to $7.99, for a market value of $1.33 billion. The company announced on Friday the hiring of its first-ever chief marketing officer, completing a series of executive hires and promotions since the start of the year that have restructured the action sports apparel company’s senior leadership team under Chief Executive Andy Mooney.


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T-shirt company Threadless has made a name for itself with the public's aid for creating one-of-a-kind shirts designed by the community and released under the title of Threadless Select. These select designs are limited in quantity, but beautifully creative.
Threadless Select is considered a premium line of clothing from the brand and are available in a variety of sizes. Recently, Threadless had released a commemorative book highlighting its 10th anniversary and showcasing hundreds of t-shirt designs and the consistent support from the worldwide community and Threadless Select is just another example this company is fruitful despite economic uncertainty.
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Here is your chance to get brewed....
The first step in the process to determine which homebrew will be named the 2020 Erie County Fair Best In Show Beer has been scheduled. Homebrewers from across New York State may submit their brews in the Erie County Fair’s Homebrew Competition. The annual summer release of the limited run, craft beer based on the winning brew has become an anticipated tradition at the Erie County Fair for beer lovers.
Homebrew hobbyists have until Friday, April 3rd to submit their beers for judging. In addition to the opportunity to win a gold medal for excellence, the Erie County Fair Homebrew Competition’s top entry will be professionally brewed and named the 2020 “Erie County Fair Best In Show Beer.”
The drop-off and judging has been postponed until further notice. The deadline to make your online entries has been extended!


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IKEA is officially open in downtown San Francisco! The new Market Street location had hundreds of people waiting for doors to open since 5a.m. Unfortunately, it had to be evacuated shortly after opening. According to a tweet by @powellmarket415 a police officer patrolling the area said someone was smoking in the building and the fire alarm went off.
Will you be shopping at the new San Francisco IKEA?


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JUBAIL: The marketing and advertising sectors have witnessed major changes in recent times in terms of their limits, methods and tools due to modern technology, improved means of social communication and the rapid spread of information. With this change, these sectors are following new strategies and are beginning to reject traditional methods.
The CEO of Shararah Company, Bader Al-Saad, said of this change: “The marketing sector has evolved in recent times due to the large number of ads and tactics used by some companies, and the spread of social networks,” confirming that the focus on interaction through Facebook pages and Twitter and other social networking mediums is the basis of the modern marketing concept.
Digital media trainer Ammar Mohammed said that social networking is capable of highlighting products to buyers, as well as evaluating the market and competitors. Hence, marketing has become important because it has turned out to be a major method of using the Internet to attract customers from all over the world to physical stores and events.
He explained that many companies depend on famous celebrities and public figures to promote their products, taking advantage of their large number of fans and followers on social media to ensure a wider spread of information.
The trainer said that the rise of social networks have sparked intense competition among a large number of marketing companies, and have helped in understanding the market's needs, listening accurately to customers and their criticism with an open mind.
“Before commencing marketing on social networking sites, it is important to identify the target audience, the content that will be presented, and the specific kind of communication network that must be selected according to each product,” Mohammed said, urging companies to purposefully set aside budgets and highly professional staff in social media departments, and to post ads to specific groups instead of just making them 'open category'.


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Sacai and Polaroid Originals have teamed up to launch their limited time model on Oct.27, "sacai × Polaroid Originals SX-70".
The iconic SX - 70 model was first released in 1972, as the first instant SLR camera on the scene, reputably for being the most compact out of all polaroids and a model loved from all over the world. This is the first time after 46 years that it’s made its comeback ever since it ceased productions. Sacai known for combining material elements, giving the camera a hybrid between vintage-modernity using chrome with brown leather or black with black leather with a minimal Sacai branding. The instant camera is available in blue and red priced at 110,000 yen (approx. US$ 981*) excluding tax. The camera is sold in Japan at Sacai Aoyama and Futago Tamagawa Tsuya appliance stores. In addition, the Sacai Aoyama store will be holding a polaroid photography exhibition.


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Google has announced that it is debuting Tiles that will give users more swipeable access to get things done quickly right from the wrist. Tiles build on the already available swipeable actions and these are basically widgets that are aimed to provide quick information about the upcoming events to users. Google has launched six new Tiles which can be accessed by just swiping left on the homescreen of a smartwatch.
“Whether you’re at home or on the go, your time is valuable. Five years ago, we built Wear OS by Google to help you get information and get things done quickly, at a glance. Over the past few months, we’ve introduced a new design that provides swipeable access to health coaching from Google Fit and proactive help from the Google Assistant. Now, we’re debuting new Tiles that give you more swipeable access to the things you need to know and get done right from your wrist,” the company said in a blogpost.
As mentioned Google has launched six Tiles: Goals, Next event, Forecast (weather), Heart rate, Headlines and Timer. With a swipe left, users can check their progress towards their fitness goals or start a workout. The tiles will also provide reminders, keep the users updated with forecast so that they can plan their daily trips, check heart rate and follow the latest news headlines.
These ‘Tiles’ are customisable so if you have a habit of checking news, you can place the Headlines Tile first. “To arrange the Tiles in the order you wish to see them, touch and hold any Tile on your smartwatch, or touch and drag one in your Wear OS by Google app. You’ll be able to stay connected to what’s important to you, and still keep tabs on other information and actions,” Google added.
The company says that it will add more Tiles over time. These new Tiles will be rolling out to the Wear OS-powered smartwatch over the next month. Google also notes that certain features may vary by phone OS, watch or country.


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Asus upcoming gaming smartphone the Asus ROG is all set to be unveiled soon. After Razer Phone and Xiaomi BlackShark smartphone, we have another brand entering the gaming smartphone race with Asus ROG. Earlier we had got various rumors about Asus planning to launch the gaming smartphone under ROG series.
Today one of the Chinese website ePrice has managed to get some of the specs of the upcoming Asus ROG gaming smartphone. As per the source, the Asus ROG will sport 6.0 inches Full-screen AMOLED display with HDR support and will indeed come with iPhone X like a notch.
The Asus ROG will be powered by SD845 SoC coupled with 8GB RAM & 128GB/256GB storage option. It will feature Dual Rear cameras and will be fueled by large 4000 mAh battery. As it is gaming smartphone we can expect it to come with a better design with good heat pipe design and ability to maintain the temperature normal. The Asus ROG is expected to be unveiled in July.


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Google launched its new product Nexus Player few days back. They put it on the Play store but they have pulled out there product from the Play store as their is as the device has yet to be certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and as a result is not permitted to be sold in the U.S. just yet.
At this time, Google hasn’t mentioned as to when it will receive the regulatory signoff necessary to sell the Nexus Player in the country, as the process is based on the FCC. We’ll let you know as we hear more on the matter. The setback will not affect the launch of the device in other territories.
What are your thoughts on the delay of the Nexus Player?


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WOBURN, MA – Bridgeline Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLIN), a leading marketing technology software company, announced today that Nail Gun Depot, a leading home improvement retailer, has chosen Bridgeline's AI-powered search technology, HawkSearch, to enhance their eCommerce site.
HawkSearch is set to boost Nail Gun Depot's online revenue by offering customers an AI-powered search bar for a more personalized shopping experience. This advanced search solution is designed to handle large, complex product catalogs Moreover, the technology's dynamic auto-complete and granular relevancy tuning significantly streamline the product discovery process, ensuring customers efficiently find exactly what they need.
Nail Gun Depot’s online catalog will be more accessible with HawkSearch, thanks to user-friendly navigation tools like autocomplete, drop-down menus and faceted search results. The platform also leverages keyword-triggered campaigns to display promotional content, such as banners, enhancing the shopping experience with timely offers and featured products. HawkSearch also efficiently categorizes products based on end-user ratings relative to the search terms, aiding customers in their decision-making process.
Ari Kahn, CEO of Bridgeline Digital, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "Our collaboration with Nail Gun Depot underscores our dedication to providing top-tier online experiences. HawkSearch's personalized and sophisticated search capabilities are crucial in delivering the refined and intuitive shopping experience that today’s online customers expect from retailers in the evolving landscape of eCommerce."
About Bridgeline Digital
Bridgeline helps companies grow online revenue by increasing traffic, conversion rates, and average order value. To learn more, please visit www.bridgeline.com.
SVP of Marketing


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Suning.com gets US$1.36b bailout from Chinese state fund, Alibaba
[BEIJING] Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong has received a US$1.36 billion state-backed bailout of the troubled retail arm of his Suning empire, marking another step in Beijing's efforts to clean up its heavily indebted conglomerates.
A group of investors, led by the Nanjing state asset management committee and the Jiangsu provincial government, will take a 16.96 per cent stake in Suning.com, according to a statement Monday. The deal was struck at 5.59 yuan a share, the near eight-year low the stock was trading at before it was halted June 16.
Alibaba Group Holding and leading Chinese appliance makers Midea Group and Haier Group are also partners in the fund, as are smartphone maker Xiaomi and TCL Technology Group. After the transaction, none of the major holders will have a controlling stake.
The bailout means Mr Zhang will no longer control the Suning.com, marking the end of a reign during which he led Suning into an array of businesses, including ownership of the Inter Milan soccer team. Bloomberg News reported earlier that the Jiangsu government, Alibaba and the other companies were considering their involvement in the bailout.
"The diversified investor portfolio helps push Suning.com to further improve the corporate governance, operations and business transformation as a retail service provider," the statement said. "The fund will actively support Suning to grow healthily and stably."
Suning.com had a market value of about 52 billion yuan (S$10.84 billion) before the trading halt, but it's been in trouble for some time. The retail business was weakened by a slowdown in spending during the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about its cash flow intensified in September, when Mr Zhang waived his right to a 20 billion yuan payment from China Evergrande Group, the world's most indebted property developer.
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The stock tumbled to a nearly eight-year low in Shenzhen last month after a Beijing court froze three billion yuan worth of shares held by Mr Zhang - representing 5.8 per cent of Suning.com - and creditors agreed to extend a bond for Suning Appliance Group, which is owned by Mr Zhang and fellow co-founder Bu Yang.
In a separate statement Monday, the listed retail arm of Suning, one of China's biggest retailers of appliances, electronics and other consumer goods, said it posted a preliminary first-half loss of 2.5 billion yuan to 3.2 billion yuan.
China is taking advantage of a strengthening economy and stable financial markets to clean up its corporate sector, discouraging the kind of reckless debt-fuelled expansion that inflated some companies to a dangerous size. The spawning of such bloated empires created a threat to the financial system as well as a challenge to President Xi Jinping's grip on power.
Suning was a prime example of that rapid diversification as it dove into an array of sectors from real estate and finance to sports, including the purchase of a controlling stake in Inter Milan for 270 million euros (S$430.9 million) in 2016.
The acquisition spree was characteristic of a group of Chinese conglomerates, among them HNA Group, Dalian Wanda Group and Anbang Insurance Group which have now been forced to unwind investments to repay debt or accept government control.
After the deal, Mr Zhang, who used to be the biggest holder in Suning.com, will have his stake cut to 17.62 per cent, while Suning Appliance will hold 2.73 per cent. Alibaba, which formed a strategic alliance in 2015, will become the biggest shareholder with a 19.99 per cent stake.
Suning Appliance agreed to sell a 23 per cent stake worth 14.8 billion yuan earlier this year to parties including Shenzhen International Holdings but the failed to proceed "on the terms and conditions of business cooperation", according to a filing by Shenzhen International on Monday.
The billionaire, who founded Suning in 1990, confounded investors when he waived his right to the Evergrande payment. The decision, which helped his friend and Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan save his own company, increased pressure on the retailer's cash flow.
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BANKING group Barclays said yesterday its UK arm had performed well as it posted a 23% rise in half-yearly pre-tax profits to a record #2.4bn.
The group said its core UK banking business increased profits by 6% to #1.2bn in the period to June 30.
Barclays' stockbroking and international business saw profits rise by 52% to #196m and Barclaycard increased its contribution by 11% to #428m.
The bank boosted its interim dividend to shareholders by 17% to 8.25p.
Group chief executive Matt Barrett, pictured, said Barclays had a record half-year, with all businesses delivering higher profits.
He added that the economic outlook for the remainder of 2004 looked healthy, with the world economy continuing to expand briskly.
"This provides a very helpful backdrop for the UK, where growth remains above trend and is expected to do so for the rest of the year," he said.
In a press briefing, the company refused to comment on market speculation linking it to a possible counter-bid for Abbey National, which is the subject of an #8bn takeover offer by Spanish bank Banco Santander Central Hispano.
Barclays also said it could not rule out further job losses at the London head office of its UK retail banking business on top of 800 already announced in June.
The group said any cuts would be part of efficiency savings from merging its UK retail banking and UK business banking activities, which will fund an extra 1,000 customer-facing staff in the retail business and improvements to systems.
A spokesman said, "We will continue to look to restructuring the business on the basis of taking back office jobs out and putting customer-facing jobs in."
Barclays said the core UK businesses performed well with good profits generation, despite absorbing considerable investment in infrastructure and in the extra customer- facing staff.
However, it said the star performer in the group was its global product division, including such businesses as Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors.
Barclays Capital increased profits by 37% to #599m while the contribution from Barclays Global Investors was up 73% at #157m.
Barclays added that the integrations into the group of acquisitions including Charles Schwab Europe and Clydesdale Financial Services, made during 2003, have been completed and that the integrations of Banco Zaragozano and stockbroking group Gerrard were ahead of schedule.


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Revealed: Brazen Tesco shoplifters who tried to steal £3K worth of goods were ... trends now
The have-a go-heroes who foiled brazen thieves who allegedly loaded a car with stolen goods are 'crime fighters' who tackled the shoplifters while on their lunch break.
A team from TM-Eye, a private investigating force of former police detectives, said they waited more than half an hour for police to arrive after they took down the thieves.
Dramatic footage captured the moment the gang was tackled as they 'tried to make off with electrical goods worth more than £3,000'.
The men were seen throwing items in a shopping trolley into a car in a Tesco car park in Waltham Abbey, Essex.
In the video, which was filmed yesterday, three men, who were allegedly shoplifting, quickly jump into their black Volkswagen Polo as another group run towards the vehicle.
The video shows the alleged shoplifters loading a black VW Golf with goods seemingly shoplifted from the store
Police arrived on the scene later and arrested two of the men, aged 17 and 27, on suspicion of theft
Luckily, a group of have-a-go heroes seemed to intervene and stop the daylight robbery
A security guard (pictured) can be seen trying to open the boot of the car to get to the allegedly stolen goods
As they try to drive away, the men who surrounded the car manage to open the door and try to drag the alleged thieves out.
A security guard can also be seen attempting to open the boot and shocked witnesses are heard saying 'call the police'.
Then a struggle ensues as the apparent shoplifters are forced to the ground and restrained by the have-a-go heroes.
One of the alleged thieves tries to headbutt one of the men and ends up falling on the ground.
Some of the vigilantes can be heard screaming 'stop resisting' as they try to restrain the alleged crooks.
An old man and his dog even get involved in the scuffle, trying his best to thwart the attempted robbery.
The heroic team's CEO David McKelvey told The Sun his crew 'saw what was happening and had just done the training so they intervened and detained two of the suspects.'
He added: 'The third suspect managed to get away. It was just a case of the right place, right time for our team. It was just happening directly in front of them. This isn't even an area that we police.'
Police arrived on the scene later and arrested two of the men, aged 17 and 27, on suspicion of theft.
They have been released on conditional bail and have been banned from the Tesco store.
They had reportedly stolen £4,000 worth of goods from another Tesco in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, hours earlier.
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Blakesley, of the Local Policing Area, said: 'We're acutely aware of the impact theft has on our businesses and we work extremely hard, first and foremost, to respond to incidents when they happen and make arrests and,


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The NAACP Loudoun County Branch is working to help residents find and support minority-owned, small businesses by partnering with Loudoun Shops Black, an online business directory.
Loudoun Shops Black formed almost a year ago as a grass roots effort to create LoudounShopsBlack.com, a resource for people who want to be intentional about supporting local, Black-owned businesses. The website is a free, opt-in directory that invites Black business owners who live or work in Loudoun County to be listed. And anyone looking for a Black-owned dental office, bakery, financial adviser, marriage counselor, hair stylist, or contractor can easily navigate the site to find one near them.
The site’s creators encourage Loudouners to support at least one Black-owned business each week, resulting in job creation and more opportunity where it’s been lacking for years.
The site LoudounShopsBlack.com also points small businesses to local resources like those provided by the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development and the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, including loan and grant opportunities, free marketing tools, free business coaching, and help navigating county zoning laws.
The partnership between the Loudoun and Loudoun Shops Black is meant to help reach different audiences, open up more grant opportunities that support entrepreneurs of color and expand their reach throughout the county. A link to Loudoun Shops Black will be displayed on the new NAACP Loudoun County Branch website, and the two plan to host events in the future to give local businesses a platform to get engaged and thrive.
Susan Mitchell, President and CEO of professional services firm Guardians of Honor LLC, said the NAACP Loudoun County Branch’s Economic Development Committee, which she chairs, “is working to provide more opportunities that fill pipelines, develop the workforce, and create financial stability for the Loudoun community and beyond.”
“We are very excited about this collaboration, which will allow residents to find and connect with small businesses owned or operated by people of color,” Mitchell said.
“This partnership is another great opportunity to engage the broader community in our mission to reclaim the promise of a people,” stated Michelle C. Thomas, President of the Loudoun NAACP. “Black entrepreneurship is a critical aspect of the realization of this dream.”
“Loudoun Shops Black is thrilled to join forces with the NAACP Loudoun County Branch to ignite economic impact for years to come,” stated Leah Fallon, a co-founder and one of the board members of Loudoun Shops Black. “At a time when so many are asking what more they can do to support their friends and neighbors of color, this move provides a simple step that can make a big difference in the community. We encourage people to make it part of their family life, and just another way that we can shop local.”


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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 are set to OUTSHINE Galaxy S23 Ultra: Report
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 are expected to be launched in the second half of 2023 with a power boost.
After the launch of the flagship Samsung Galaxy S23 series recently, the company is working on the next big launch of the year – Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Though the launch is still around 5-6 months away, Samsung's upcoming foldable smartphones have recently popped up on an online benchmark. Surprisingly, the benchmarking has revealed that it matches the level of performance of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
According to the benchmark, it has been confirmed that both the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (SM-F946U) and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 (SM-F731U) are equipped with the same chipset as the Galaxy S23 series, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, SamMobile report. The report says that this chipset features a primary "super" core with a higher frequency of 3.36GHz as opposed to 3.2GHz.
Based on initial performance tests, the report suggested that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 will outperform Samsung's current flagship phone, despite all of them using the same System on a Chipset. In single-core tests, Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 achieved a score slightly above 2,000 points. On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 Ultra (SM-S918B) scores around 1500 points in the single-core tests.
mobile to buy?
Apart from this, the benchmark has also confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will pack 12GB of RAM, whereas the Z Flip 5 has 8GB.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 expected launch
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 are expected to be unveiled by Samsung at the next Unpacked launch event. It may take place around August or September based on the previous pattern of foldable smartphone launches by Samsung. However, this has not been officially confirmed by Samsung.
Follow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews , also keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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Seraphine, a British maker of maternity clothing worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is considering a public listing in London, it said on Thursday.
The company, which has spread to more than 100 countries since it was founded in 2002, said it was looking to list at least 25% of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO).
"An IPO gives us the momentum to grow both our own digital platform and increase our customer reach by expanding our digital partnerships while building on existing strong fundamentals," CEO David Williams said in a statement.
The online-focussed company said nearly half of its website traffic was from a targeted use of paid marketing channels including Facebook, Instagram and Google, as people spot social media trends and make shopping decisions.
It said the rest of the traffic was not directly paid for, coming via social media, the press, endorsements from influencers, celebrities and royals, digital partnerships, its flagship stores and word of mouth.
(Reporting by Muvija M and Sachin Ravikumar in Bengaluru Editing by Mark Potter) ((email@example.com; within UK: +44 20 7542 1810, outside UK: +91 80 61822698; Twitter: https://twitter.com/muvija_m;))


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Troton participated in the purchase of a new rescue and firefighting car for the OSP (Volunteer Fire Service) in Gościno.
The vehicle on the MAN TGM 13.290 chassis has a water tank with a capacity of 3.500 liters. Its value exceeds PLN 1 million, and the purchase was possible thanks to the support of the Main Headquarters of the State Fire Service, the Municipal Office of Gościno and the support of numerous donors, including our company.
We are glad that we could support such a worthy initiative!
On the picture; president of the TROTON company Jan Wołejszo and the president of the OSP Gościno Krzysztof Selerowicz.
Between June 29 and July 2, Troton participated in the Detailer Fest Brasil 2023, […]
TROTON is pleased to announce that we have once again been among the winners […]


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Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone
Group Shares Stars’ Anti-Fur and Anti-Leather Campaigns With DCFW Attendees
Washington – As models, designers, and buyers head to D.C. for Fashion Week, they’ll receive a major animal-friendly message courtesy of PETA, who will distribute leaflets featuring the group’s sexy new anti-fur ad starring Penelope Cruz and screen Stella McCartney’s leather exposé outside major DCFW events and throughout the city all week. The group hopes to show fashion week attendees that compassion is the hottest fashion trend for Fall 2012.
When: Monday, February 20, through Sunday, February 26
“As a designer, I like to work with fabrics that don’t bleed; that’s why I avoid all animal skins,” says McCartney in her video exposé. “Please join me in exploring the huge variety of fashionable shoes, belts, purses, and wallets that aren’t the product of a cow’s violent death.”
For every coat, collar, or cuff made from fur or leather, animals suffer immensely. Every year, millions of foxes, minks, and rabbits— and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned to death, electrocuted, or skinned alive for their pelts. And cows killed for their skin are castrated, branded, and dehorned and have their tails cut off, all without painkillers.


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BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- Less is apparently more when it comes to beef sales at V. Richard's.
The upscale independent is finding success with a new lean beef program, centered around a branded line cut from the Piedmontese breed of cattle.
The supermarket, located in this affluent suburb of Milwaukee, replaced its Black Angus branded beef program with the Piedmontese beef, produced from an Italian breed of the same name known for its low-fat and low-cholesterol composition and high levels of protein and taste.
Response to the Piedmontese line -- the only beef now carried by V. Richard's -- has been amazing, according to Al Kingstreiter, meat department manager.
"The Piedmontese program is blowing Black Angus away," Kingstreiter told SN.
He estimated that the Piedmontese beef, which V. Richard's introduced in February, is already selling at levels 25% higher than the sales generated by the Black Angus program during its own introduction at the store two years ago.
The product's debut at V. Richard's marks another stage in the slow infiltration of Piedmontese beef into the high-end niche of premium branded fresh beef in American supermarkets.
Although the first Piedmontese cattle appeared in the United States in the early-to-mid 1980s, it is believed that there are only about 12,000 to 17,000 Piedmontese of half-blood or greater here today, said Roger Chenevy, president of Ameri-Pied, Wooster, Ohio. Ameri-Pied is dedicated to the marketing and sale of Piedmontese that have been certified under a grading program designed specifically for the brand and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The program, which was implemented in January 1997, allows Piedmontese to bypass the USDA's traditional grading criteria, which uses marbling as a major factor in attaining higher grades such as Prime and Choice.
"The USDA's traditional grading system would be a death knoll for Piedmontese," said Chenevy. He explained that the beef's natural leanness would relegate it to a grading of "standard" or "select" -- grades usually associated with dryness and toughness.
"Piedmontese cattle are really an anomaly," said Chenevy. "They offer leanness while retaining tenderness and juiciness."
Kingstreiter of V. Richard's told SN he is reaping the benefits of carrying a somewhat exclusive product that appeals to health-conscious consumers and has a great taste.
V. Richard's is merchandising the Piedmontese beef line in its full-service meat case, which measures 40 to 50 feet in length and includes sections of chicken and pork, as well as value-added products.
The company, which purchases about five heads of cattle per week for slaughtering, is currently offering more than a dozen cuts of beef, including New York strip steaks, flank steaks, rib eyes, fillets, regular and extra lean grounds, briskets and chuck roast.
Prices average about 10 to 20 cents higher per pound than the Black Angus product previously carried. A New York strip steak, for example, is priced at $15.99 per pound, and a chuck roast is priced at $3.59 per pound. Kingstreiter estimated that profit margins for the Piedmontese beef are fairly close to or the same as those of the Black Angus product.
At V. Richard's, the beef is also merchandised in the value-added section of the company's full-service meat case, as well as a value-added, self-service section located at the front of the store near the checkout counters.
Both sections play a "big part" in overall department sales, according to Kingstreiter. Since its introduction more than a year ago, the self-service case at the front of the store, which Kingstreiter describes as a "gourmet, on-the-go section," has increased overall meat sales by about 40%, he said.
"A lot of our customers are professionals who like the convenience of running in after work and grabbing a ready-to-go meal at the front of the store to take home," he said.
Kingstreiter is offering such value-added Piedmontese products as shish-kabobs, meat loaf, marinated and stuffed steaks, eye of the round Italian rolls, spidini, Sicilian steak and meatballs.
Because consumer education was needed to introduce the new product, V. Richard's is relying on heavy in-store sampling -- a strategy that is helping guarantee the product's success, according to Trevor Cox of Consumer Trends Marketing, a New Berlin, Wis., consulting firm that is handling product marketing for Metcalf Farms of Mechanicsburg, Ill., V. Richard's supplier.
"We follow the old-fashioned philosophy of, 'Feed them and they will come,' " said Cox, a former chef who personally oversees the sampling.
Sampling also plays an important role at West Point Market, Akron, Ohio, according to store manager Rick Vernon, who says that customers who taste the beef usually buy it.
Vernon told SN that Piedmontese accounts for about one-third of the approximately 30 feet of case space he allots to beef and generates about 5% of overall category sales.
That figure, however, continues to grow, according to Vernon, who said the beef tastes comparable to Prime, which is the only other grade of beef the store carries, and it earns high marks for tenderness, juiciness and flavor.
The product's appeal is also enhanced by the beef's naturally "rich, bright red color," said consultant Cox. It draws customers to the meat case and "really speaks for itself," Cox said.
V. Richard's and West Point Market are also using product brochures and signage to market the beef, and product labeling to alert people to the product's nutritional benefits, as well as to its faster cooking time -- one-third to one-half faster than conventional beef -- because of its lean composition.
Kingstreiter of V. Richard's said Piedmontese consistently outscores conventional beef in lower fat and cholesterol content, fewer calories and higher levels of protein.
The brochures that V. Richard's is handing out at the store are produced by Metcalf Farms and include a comparative laboratory analysis of a 3.5-ounce serving of trimmed Piedmontese from Metcalf Farms vs. such lean products as Choice beef and skinless chicken.
In the analysis, prepared by Warren Analytical Laboratory of Greeley, Colo., Piedmontese shows a fat and cholesterol content of 7.56 grams and 40-mg, respectively, compared with Choice beef's 24.05 grams of fat and 74-mg of cholesterol and skinless chicken's 3.08 grams of fat and 70-mg of cholesterol.
The Piedmontese analysis also shows 20.94 grams of protein and 154 calories, compared with Choice beef's 17.32 grams of protein and 291 calories and skinless chicken's 21.39 grams of protein and 119 calories.
Since Metcalf, like other suppliers, guarantees only that the beef is at least half Piedmontese -- due to the scarcity of full-blooded animals and their need for breeding -- the nutritional profiles are even more impressive when full-blooded Piedmontese are analyzed.
For example, in an analysis carried out by Industrial laboratories in Denver for the Piedmontese Association of the United States, a 3.5-ounce serving of untrimmed, full-blooded Piedmontese had 36-mg of cholesterol, 1.7 grams of fat and 95 calories. The Piedmontese Association of the United States is a Denver-based nonprofit organization that tracks and registers full-blooded Piedmontese.
In addition to its nutritional characteristics, Metcalf's Piedmontese is an all-natural product derived from cattle that have not been fed hormones or antibiotics, according to the supplier.
Metcalf Farms is not the only supplier to make such claims. All Piedmontese certified under the USDA's program -- which was developed by Ameri-Pied and the PAUS -- adhere to a number of diet restrictions, including no hormones and no antibiotics.
One of the secrets behind the success of Piedmontese is that "it offers consumers a high-quality meat that's actually good for them," according to Cox.
"It's the perfect answer for the person who's been eating beef hamburgers all his life and doesn't want to switch to turkey burgers in order to cut down on fat and cholesterol," Cox said.
As for the higher price, Metcalf points out that the product's lean composition creates higher yields.
"The typical yield of a domestic cattle is 58% to 62%, but we're seeing yields of 66% to 74% with our Piedmontese," he said. "An additional 8% yield on a 700-pound carcass can create another 56 pounds of retail product, which can generate another $140 at $2.50 per pound."
In past years, the sale of Piedmontese in the United States has been limited mostly to small businesses and individuals who purchased the product on a "custom-butchering" basis from farmers who raised the cattle, according to Chenevy, who says the lack of availability prevented widespread distribution.
Although there are no solid figures on the number of retail and restaurant outlets currently selling the product throughout the country, Chenevy estimated the figure at about 50 as of the end of April and says that most are of a specialty or upscale nature.
A more widespread distribution, however, seems inevitable.
Nieman-Marcus, the upscale department store retailer, began testing a Piedmontese burger in three of its restaurant locations in March and plans to roll it out to additional locations, according to Chenevy. In addition, he said, the product is expected to be introduced to a number of restaurant and specialty food outlets within the next two months.


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The global pandemic generated a huge shift to online stores, and one big winner is Shopify.
E-commerce has grown 32 percent since Q1 of 2020 and 45 percent since 2019, according to the US Department of Commerce. According to a study from Adobe, in just a couple of months, online shopping in the US achieved between 4 and 6 years’ worth of growth. April and May e-commerce levels were higher than what retailers achieved during the 2019 holiday season (the most important weeks in American retail).
Among the winners of this noteworthy shift are big names like Walmart or Amazon. But not only. An impressive number of small businesses migrated online trying to survive the pandemic. New stores created on Shopify rocketed by 71 percent in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 of 2020.
And with a market value of roughly $117 billion, Shopify is bigger than eBay Inc. and Target Corp. combined.
But that’s not the whole story. Shopify isn’t the only winner here: so are its merchants. Companies are moving their real-life stores to the platform at an incredible rate. Merchants benefit greatly from the move to online shopping, but there’s another link in the chain that is also seeing significant growth.
E-commerce agencies are among the list of winners due to COVID-19. One such company is Zissu, and during the pandemic, it has assisted hundreds of businesses in the transition to Shopify. Agencies like Zissu help merchants set up their stores, design them, install and configure Shopify’s various apps, and increase conversion rates. Essentially, Zissu is holding the merchant’s hand through the entire setup process.
And that is helping merchants to navigate Shopify, which can be difficult to master, but in the case of Zissu, it has helped its clients generate $18 million in sales.
The monetary benefit is one thing, but other bonuses are directly generated because of the pandemic: Product features.
“To keep its momentum going, Shopify has developed during COVID-19 its store importer,” Chen Zissu, CEO at Zissu, told me. “This is an internal app that helps import clients, products, collections, and reviews from almost any e-commerce platform.”
The importer makes data migration easier, but the way merchants are using Shopify has also changed since the pandemic, including new features to aid conversion and improve the customer experience.
“Store owners can upload products quickly thanks to Shopify mobile app update which allows users to take product photos and upload to their stores right away,” Zissu said. ” But for a better purchasing experience, Shopify started using 3D and AR models. Shopify also added 3D and AR model creators to Shopify’s expert marketplace so users can get a sense of the measurements of a product and what it will look like in reality.”
Even the way customers buy products has changed, and no doubt, the addition of Shopify’s loan offerings has created more revenue opportunities for the platform.
“We saw more people using Shopify’s loans,” Zissu said. “Shopify also created new financial models and payment gateway integrations such as buy now pay later, and split payments.”
Of course, the pandemic itself has been truly horrible for many and incredibly challenging. But e-commerce as a whole, Shopify, its merchants, and Shopify setup and optimization agencies benefit from the sharp increase in online shopping, and it doesn’t look like this will slow down in 2021.


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By Rajendra Jadhav
MUMBAI - India's gold imports in January dropped to their lowest in 17 months as prices rebounded and buyers postponed purchases in expectation of cuts in the import tax, provisional data from precious metals consultancy GFMS and bank dealers showed.
The drop in purchases by India, the world's second-biggest consumer of gold after China, could weigh on global prices, which have risen over 7 percent in eight weeks.
Lower gold imports could help the South Asian country to reduce its trade deficit that surged to the highest in more than three years in December.
The country's imports were 30 tonnes in January, down 37 percent from 47.9 tonnes a year ago, Sudheesh Nambiath, a senior analyst with GFMS, a division of Thomson Reuters, said on Monday.
"Last month the industry was expecting the duty cut in the budget. People were not willing to build inventory," Nambiath said.
The expectation of the duty cut in January prompted traders to offer the highest discount in four months over official domestic prices.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley kept the import tax unchanged in the annual budget presented on Feb. 1.
The rebound in overseas prices also kept buyers on the sidelines, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.
"Jewellers were not comfortable with the spike in prices. They were expecting a correction," he said.
After falling to the lowest level in five months in December, gold prices surged to the highest level in 17 months in January.
Indian banks aggressively imported gold in December taking advantage of lower prices and a lot of the unsold bullion was available to fulfil January demand, said a Chennai-based bullion dealer.
The country's overseas gold purchases in December stood at 80.4 tonnes, up 61 percent from a year ago, GFMS data showed.
India's gold imports surged 69 percent in 2017 from the previous year to 863.2 tonnes.
In February, imports could rise above 50 tonnes as jewellers have been replenishing inventory, the private bank dealer said.
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)


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Milan fashion first-timers 'Au Jour Le Jour' thank Instagram
Pictures appear on the smartphone photo sharing application Instagram on April 10, 2012 in Paris - by Thomas Coex
The two are behind "Au Jour Le Jour" -- a youthful brand set up in 2010 that featured colourful skirts with lipstick kisses, kittens and puppies for the autumn/winter season.
The tones were bold -- with reds, purples and turquoises -- as well as the ubiquitous fake fur jackets that are emerging as a fashion week trend.
"We're into social media and a lot of our stuff goes through Instagram and so it reaches different markets and areas," said Fontana, explaining how his Milan-based brand was able to reach an international audience.
"We want to remain in Italy and expand from here. Our style is a journey but it's a journey that begins in Milan and then moves around the world," Fontana told AFP backstage after the show, wearing a bright red shirt adorned with bunny rabbits.
Armani said earlier that he was offering the label a chance to showcase at Milan Fashion Week as a way of fostering new creative talent.
"I like the way young designers today try to make their name using all channels. I admire entrepreneurship and have decided to support it."


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- On December 17, Solana-based gaming ecosystems Aurory experienced a web3 hack, resulting in a drop of nearly 80% in the liquidity of the AURY-USDC pool.
- The web hack targeted Aurory’s SyncSpace bridge on Arbitrum’s native DEX Camelot around 13:00 UTC(16:00 EAT).
- According to Solana, Aurory has raised over $108 million worth of commitment at a 1.55 billion $AURY valuation.
The Web3 industry has significantly evolved over the past few years. What started as a mere digital currency has grown into a trillion-dollar franchise, a widespread technology with the capacity to change various sectors and an entirely new wave of applications. From the fundamental aspects of Bitcoin, developers have managed to duplicate its functioning to create numerous alternative coins or Altcoins.
Developers mainly did this to develop a cryptocurrency that would surpass Bitcoin, but unfortunately, the original crypto coin has dominated the franchise for some time. With the domination of Bitcoin, all too apparent developers took different roles; thus, instead of competing with Bitcoin, they sought to improve and expand its functionalities.
This led to the development of blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum, Solana, and many more. Unfortunately, their success eventually became their undoing as web3 hacking has become the norm within the industry. So far, web3-based ecosystems have lost billions via unsecured blockchain networks, solar engineering, and zero-day hacks.
In recent developments, Solana-based ecosystem Aurory, a popular web3 game, has become the industry’s latest victim, losing almost 80% of its pool’s liquidity in a recent web3 hack.
Aurory, Solana’s web3 game
The hierarchy of the crypto sphere is a combination of supply and demand. Despite these, key crypto coins like Ether and Bitcoin have consistently dominated their franchises. As a result, many altcoins have chosen to go for different routes and venture into other sectors to maintain their popularity and valuation. Amid this trend, web3 games have become a popular method of ensuring demand while expanding the reach of the web3 ecosystem.
Solana, a popular altcoin, is among the few cryptocurrencies that chose to expand the ecosystems of web3 rather than compete in the man-eat-man world of the crypto sphere. This approach led to the development of the popular rate web3 game, Aurory.
Aurory is a blockchain-based massive multiplayer online role-playing game. It resides on the Solana ecosystems and is a gaming project that tested the mechanics of play-to-earn features. Aurory is one of the first web3 games to show a polished demo venturing into an ever-expanding world. Its unique storyline and various components have significantly grown its popularity over the years.
According to Solana, the Aurory project was its earliest adopter of incentivized blockchain-based gaming. The web3 game has set the standard for Play-to-Earn(P2E) games via its innovative and attractive gameplay. The web3 game is a masterpiece of the web3 franchise. It has one of the well-developed in-game economies and has its obviative token, the $AURY.
In addition, the game’s design heavily accommodated NFT technology, allowing gamers to have unique characters and in-game items. The web3 game has become an enormous success, attracting a lot of investors and gamers alike. According to Solana, Aurory has raised over $108 million worth of commitment at a 1.55 billion $AURY valuation.
This has given the Solana-based gaming ecosystems the financial might to become market leaders and is one of Solana’s Triple A-rated games. Unfortunately, its success has recently made the web3 game a target of unwanted attention.
Aurory lost 80% of its pool’s liquidity in a web3 hack.
On December 17, Solana-based gaming ecosystems Aurory experienced a web3 hack, resulting in a drop of nearly 80% in liquidity of the AURY-USDC pool on the decentralized exchange Carmelot. According to a report on social media platform X, the web hack targeted Aurory’s SyncSpace bridge on Arbitrum’s native DEX Camelot around 13:00 UTC(16:00 EAT). The perpetrators went on to siphoned the AURY-USDC pool from $1.5 million to roughly $312,000.
Generally, users usually switch items between on-chain and off-chain with a single transaction via SyncSpace, which acts as Aurory’s bridge. This enables in-game assets in the off-chain branch to move into Solana’s blockchain ecosystems when the user chooses to DeSync them.
Unfortunately, this has raised questions over the security features of Solana, especially after boasting that its SyncSpace was un-hackable. Aurora has responded by clarifying that the assets stolen during the web3 hak were immediately sold. In an X post, they said, “We’ve been buying back the tokens as we’re investigating what happened.”
Unfortunately, this recent web3 hack has significantly damaged the valuation of $AUR. According to CoinMarketCap, Aurory’s process is at $1.13 at the time of writing, representing a 20.60% drop in the last 24 hours.
Unfortunately, Aurory has yet to make an official comment on its recent security breach, but the damage has already been done. If the web3 game is unable to clarify what transpired and provide the means to reimburse its users, it could spell doom. Blockchain security is still an evolving concept, with security experts finding new ways to bolster its existing features.
However, the same is true for hackers and scammers. As the crypto sphere continues to grow in valuation, hackers and scammers will continue to find new ways to compete with existing blockchain security features. This has become a long-standing plague in the crypto industry as many traders and participants in the franchise continue to question if digital assets are genuinely safer means than traditional banking.


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Kolkata: Buoyed by the introduction of spices, Emami Group is looking at Rs 15,000crore revenue in the next few years from its agrotech business. Emami Agrotech, the agrotech arm of the group, now has a revenue of Rs 12,000 crore mostly from edible oil.
Aditya Agarwal, the director of the group, pointed out that Emami has entered high-margin spices and masala business with Emami Healthy & Tasty Mantra, which will boost agrotech fortune further.
Elaborating the plans for spices, Agarwal said it wants to be among top-three players in spices nationally in the next five years. “We are looking at Rs 1,200crore to Rs 1,500crore business in the next five years in spices,” he added. The Rs 16,000crore spices market is fragmented among many players regionally. Nationally, Everest is the biggest player.
In North and West, Ashok is a big brand, while in Bengal Cookme and Sunrise are two leading players. Emami has introduced five spices, five masala and three tastemakers in the range. It has initially launched the ranges in West Bengal and gradually, it would be introduced nationally. “ In the remaining 6-7 months of this fiscal, we have targeted Rs 15crore revenue from this,” he added.
The packet spices market is growing at 15% nationally, while in Bengal, it is 25%. In edible oil, Emami has two brands — Healthy & Tasty and Best Choice — and another brand for vanaspati, Rasoi. In edible oil category, Emami Agrotech has presence in mustard oil, rice-bran oil, sunflower oil, soyabean oil, palm oil and vanaspati.
The total revenue from two oil brands is Rs 5,500-6,000 crore. Best Choice is Rs 4,000 crore and the remaining Healthy & Tasty. The organised edible oil market is about Rs 40,000 crore and Adani Wilmar is the market leader nationally. Ruchi Soya used to be a major player in this segment but after it went to IBC, Adani strengthened its grip on the market, while Emami is trying to penetrate nationally.
Currently, apart from branded retail edible oils, Emami Agrotech has major bulk sell to different corporate, bio-diesel as well as saturated fat for personal care products.
Emami group is planning to invest Rs 700 crore to expand the capacity of edible oil refining capacity in the next one year. It is investing Rs 200 crore for expansion of Haldia and Rs 500 crore for a greenfield unit in Kandla, Gujarat. The total capacity of Emami Agrotech will be expanded from 6,000 tonne per day to 10,000 tonne per day.
"Following the transaction, majority Indian ownership will create the regulatory space to even convert the operations into a B2C entity. It will provide a better shopping and pricing experience. But it's a call that has to be taken," said a source familiar with the transaction.


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National Enquirer publisher American Media has acquired TEN: Publishing’s Adventure Sports Network, a group of 14 action sports brands, including Bike, Powder and Surfer magazines as well as the Dew Tour event series. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
The move is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions for American Media, which has now bolstered its portfolio with nearly 30 additional magazines since early 2017. It bought Wenner Media titles Us Weekly and Men’s Journal in two separate 2017 deals, and then a handful of tabloids and teen titles, including In Touch and Life & Style, from Bauer Media last June.
An announcement cited synergies with Men’s Journal—which merged with its former competitor Men’s Fitness last year after being acquired by American Media—as a reason for buying the magazines, which will join that brand as well as Muscle & Fitness and Muscle & Fitness Hers as part of American Media’s Active Lifestyle Group of titles.
“Focused on deep passion and engagement from their readership,” said Men’s Journal chief content officer Greg Emmanuel, the magazines “are an extraordinary complement.”
The acquisition comes less than a month after the company—which had been doing business as American Media, Inc. but changed to an LLC after its parent company acquired TNG and Comag late last year—announced that it had raised $460 million to refinance of its outstanding debt despite an onslaught of negative publicity surrounding the Enquirer and CEO David Pecker.
“ASN has built a portfolio of the most enduring brands in the adventure sports media landscape,” added Norb Garrett, president of the Adventure Sports Network at TEN. “Under American Media’s leadership, we will continue to grow our multi-platform reach across digital, social, print, and experiential events.”
TEN: Publishing’s parent company, The Enthusiast Network, sold a majority stake in itself to Discovery Communications in 2017 and rebranded the joint venture as Motor Trend Group. Moving forward, it said it plans to focus on its suite of automotive titles, which includes Motor Trend as well as Automobile and Hot Rod magazines, among others.
As with the Us Weekly deal, law firm Cole Schotz P.C. acted as legal counsel to American Media. TEN: Publishing was advised by M&A firm The Raine Group, with Latham & Watkins LLP as legal counsel.


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In a quick win for the Australian Cabinet and Furniture Association (ACFA), their new CAMS software made it faster and easier for members to renew. Now they’re reaping benefits across the whole organisation.
When this year’s membership renewal came around, the Australian Cabinet and Furniture Association (ACFA) weren’t sure what to expect. Their new Cloud Association Management Solution (CAMS) had just gone live, so members would be encountering it for the first time. The results spoke for themselves – renewals were up 31.6 percent on the same period last year.
“CAMS made the process straightforward, fast and easy, which it hadn’t been before,” says CEO Dean Brakell. “We believe that had a really big impact.” Membership renewal wasn’t ACFA’s only challenge. “Our previous customer relationship management system was little more than a repository for information we’d collected,” Brakell says. “Our Association is growing and it was more and more obvious that this was no longer fit for purpose.” Brakell heard of CAMS through the Association Forum – an organisation which brings Associations together to help them boost their performance.
“I knew from attending their conferences and receiving their communications that CAMS was front and centre in this space, so they were an obvious contender,” Brakell says. “But we still went through a pretty rigorous process before deciding they were the right people for the job. In all, we took a close look at five different providers.”
Living up to expectations
CAMS is a fully-functional easy-to-use membership management solution powered by Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 platform. It integrates seamlessly with Office products such as Outlook, Word and Excel and has a flexible, modular structure. “The technology has done everything we hoped at this stage but it’s still early days,” Brakell says. “There are parts of the system we haven’t even had time to touch yet. For instance, I’m really excited about using the marketing module and functionality as we didn’t have that capability at all before. Market segmentation is something else we can see will work well for us.”
“CAMS made the process straightforward, fast and easy, which it hadn’t been before,” – Dean Brakell
CAMS scalability was a big plus for ACFA. “At the moment we have 550 members and 24 staff but we’re looking at long-term growth,” Brakell says. “That means we’re going to need to build our capability,” They also plan to add a mobile application and, down the track, to integrate ACFA’s two distinct business units.
“There’s the Association, which provides services for members in the furnishing, cabinetmaking and joinery industries,” Brakell says. “These range in size from small family businesses to large national manufacturers, retailers and suppliers. And we’re also a Registered Training Organisation delivering on-thejob Certificate III trade training to the cabinet making sector. We have always intended to integrate the two but decided to introduce CAMS in stages so the job didn’t feel too big to handle.”
For the moment, the benefits are continuing to increase as employees become more familiar with CAMS.
“Everyone in the organisation is going to use it at some point so we made sure we set time aside to train the whole team,” says Program Manager Fiona Joynes.
Brakell agrees it’s vital to have a solid training plan for implementation in place.
“A good change management plan is also crucial,” he says. “You need to make sure everyone’s onside. And, as most associations run on the smell of an oily rag, the other thing I’d recommend is including a contingency in your budget.”
“They were helpful with everything from the initial research to making the most of CAMS,” – Fiona Joynes
The CAMS team began the work in January 2020 and the system went live in April.
“We added to the scope of the original project and that put an extra six to eight weeks on the program, but the team kept to their timetable and budget,” Brakell says.
Joynes was particularly impressed by the support offered. “They were helpful with everything from the initial research to making the most of CAMS,” she says. “We’re not IT people so it’s wonderful they’ve been with us every step of the way.”
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Movingtrend – Tuesday July 31, 2018
OnePlus 6 users are reporting display flickering issues when using the smartphone in adaptive brightness mode. Flickering issue has been observed in bright sunglight.
Issues are being noticed in bright light when adaptive brightness is on.
OnePlus 6 received the OxygenOS 5.1.8 software update back in mid June. With this update, OnePlus 6 users are reporting display flickering issues when using the phone in brightness mode. Some users are using the third-party apps but are waiting for the solution by the OnePlus company.
According to the report of OnePlus 6 users, flickering obsereved when using the phone bright sunlight and more noticeable when seeing the app or web pages with a white background or with vivid color.
Closer to the release of OxygenOS 5.1.8, a post was found on OnePlus forum that has many comments claiming that the auto brightness feature in the OnePlus 6 doesn’t adjust according to the environment, and only the third-party app Lux, is useful for it to function.
Reasonable number of threads was seen on Reddit in which users repeated the point that the display on their OnePlus 6 handsets “flicker rapidly when in direct sunlight.” As the company claims that OnePlus 6 compete with Samsung Galaxy S9 and Huawei P20 Pro. So, Flickering issue is downgraded the OnePlus 6 compared to its rivals. Some are talking that it is related to feature not a bug as the OnePlus is used PWM at 236Hz in order to regulate screen brightness.
Some users are claiming that this issue got spotlight after the release of OxygenOS 5.1.8 update in Jun. And the most annoying thing is that it can’t be recognized and fixed in OxygenOS 5.1.9 update. To clear the cache is not the solution of this problem. It only works for one user.
According to the post on XDA Developer forum this bug is said to be noticeable only when the screen goes to 100 percent brightness with auto brightness turned on. OnePlus has not officially respond users about the update that will sort out this issue.
Flickering issue is hard to notice and it doesn’t seem to be hardware issue; definitely it would be fixes with software solution. We believe OnePlus will soon address this issue and deliver a solution to fixt it.
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Is criticizing a company like BMW the first step towards criticizing Germany? One aspect is Germany’s high trade surplus. Is one country enriching itself at the expense of others?
Trade talks between the United States and China will continue in Washington this week. The big question is just how far the two sides are from an agreement. The US is certainly sending contradictory signals.
Trade conflicts have put a stamp on 2018. There was no lack of threats voiced and punitive tariffs implemented. Is there any hope that the New Year will bring some improvement? DW's Andreas Becker looks for answers.
US carmaker General Motors (GM) has announced 14,000 job cuts and the closure of several plants worldwide, including four in the US. President Donald Trump is furious, but he's partly to blame, says DW's Henrik Böhme.
The European Comission will back Spain's fight to defend its olive exporters, who were hit by Donald Trump's tariffs in June 2018. Madrid considers the punitive measure to be "an evident prejudice" on olive producers.
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During a special Made By Google event on Tuesday, Google announced a pair of new phones, an upgraded Chromecast, and its always-on Google Home speaker.
Google also revealed its own wireless network product, called Google Wifi.
Here's how it works: users place a series of small, white devices around the home. Each device broadcasts a wireless network, while simultaneously interacting and communicating with one another to maximize network speed and coverage.
Google developed a feature called Network Assist that will monitor you as you move around with a device, such as a phone or tablet, and ensure your device has a strong and reliable connection at all times.
A companion app for Android and iOS devices will give you full control over your wireless network, including parental controls for the devices your children use. For example, Google states you can pause the wireless connection on your child's device in a last ditch effort to get him or her to join you at the dinner table.
Google Wi-Fi will be available for preorder in November, priced at $129 for one unit. A bundle of three, for those with a larger home, is priced at $299. Google Wi-Fi will begin shipping in December.
Arguably the biggest competitor to Google Wifi is Eero. The company made a big splash last year with its mesh network-enabled Wi-Fi routers. However, Eero is priced higher than Google Wi-Fi, with a three pack of routers listed at $499.
Alongside Google Wi-Fi, the search giant announced an update to its Chromecast streaming device. Chromecast Ultra is 4K capable, now includes an ethernet port on the power adapter, and wireless improvements that make the device 1.8 times faster, according to Google. Ultra will retail for $69.